Posts Tagged ‘Parable of the Good Shepherd’
“From Adulation to Betrayal ~ Timeline of 35 Parables” ~ Year of Inauguration ~
Strategic Beginnings
How did Jesus Christ inaugurate His public ministry? Months before, His cousin, John, son of close relatives Elizabeth and Zechariah, emerged as the “voice of one calling out in the wilderness.” John had called for a revival of an ancient Jewish custom ~ immersion in water. We know it today as water baptism. In fulfilling all righteousness, Jesus made His way to Bethany on the other side of the Jordan River, the eastern side. This site, Bethabara ~ “house of the crossing” ~, was chosen because there was much water there.
My baptism took place in the Atlantic Ocean nearly thirty-nine years ago where Allen’s Sheep Farm overlooks the sea in Chilmark, on Martha’s Vineyard Island, Massachusetts. In the early seventies, as a newly-formed band of believers, public baptisms in the Atlantic were the norm for us. Generally, we would stroll en masse from Pequot Avenue in Oak Bluffs, on the North shore of the Vineyard, with tambourines and singing and spill onto the beach to the amazement of all the sunbathers. On one occasion, a bespectacled young woman ran up to my husband, who was doing the dunking that day, and asked to be baptized ~ bikini, glistening with suntan oil and all. It was WILD!
If the truth be told and if it were expedient which it is not, I would be baptized again. Liken it to a couple renewing their marriage vows which my husband, James, and I did do on our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Because I know so much more about baptism now than I did then, I would love to go under the waters a second time, totally focused in my mind and heart, and hear those words again, “I baptize you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins.” Are there any greater words?
Back to the River Jordan and Jesus, who was about thirty years old, is next in line to be baptized by John the Baptist. Have you ever thought about what that moment was like for John? At that moment John was able to transition from the natural realm to the spiritual realm ~ quickly. We have no indication that the two, Jesus and John, who were cousins, had any lead-up discussions about the dramatic twists in their lives from obscurity to public ministry.
Returning from the Jordan River, the Spirit sent Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil in three areas: 1) physical hunger; 2) power; 3) testing God. He was in the dessert for forty days with the wild animals. He was hungry. He resisted and fought Satan with the only weapon on earth that can defeat the devil ~ the mighty Word of God! With each of the devil’s “if statements” Jesus employed an applicable Old Testament passage thereby countering each evil suggestion, dooming it to blasphemy. Angels attended Jesus after the devil, in utter defeat, left Him. Jesus was now ready to go forth with His message of the Kingdom of God. His first order of business was to enlist His inner circle of disciples.
Calling of the First Disciples
Among the first six of the eventual Twelve Disciples were, interestingly, two sets of brothers. About six weeks after Jesus’ baptism the Jews of Jerusalem sent an emissary to John the Baptist to ask him who he was. John declared that he was sent to, “Make straight the way for the Lord.” Two days later a dramatic event occurred. Jesus came back from the desert to where John was baptizing. After hearing John say, “Look, the Lamb of God!” as Jesus was passing by, Andrew left John and began following Jesus as He walked past John’s entourage. Jesus turned back to Andrew and invited him to see where He was staying (it was about four p.m.) and Andrew chose to spend the rest of the day Him. The first thing that Andrew did was to find his brother,Simon Peter, and bring him to Jesus. At their first meeting, Jesus prophesied a name change, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas.”
The day after that Jesus decided to leave the Jordan River region east of Jerusalem and head north to Galilee. He looked for Philip who, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida which means the “House of Fishing.” Bethsaida, referred to seven times in the New Testament, was located on the North shore of the Sea of Galilee east of the Jordan River Delta. Philip immediately sought for and found Nathanael and grabbed his attention with the claim of finding “the one Moses wrote about in the Law.” We can presume that these four decided to go with Jesus to Galilee. The second set of brothers are enjoined to the groupuscule several months later.
The small unit now moves north to Cana of Galilee for a wedding and the first supernatural manifestation of Jesus’ deity. The wedding manager had underestimated the thirst quotient of the wedding guests and a fairly serious social dilemma arose. They were out of wine! Mary, the mother of Jesus, approached Him and asked if He could do something. Jesus’ response is noteworthy. He disclosed that His time had not yet come, however, due to some gentle mother’s coaxing, He rescued the situation, the host, and the manager.
This miraculous sign, changing water into wine, revealed His glory and caused His disciples to put their faith in Him. His ministry in Galilee was being launched and a temporary base of operations had to be set up. His choice was going to be Capernaum situated approximately eighty miles north of Jerusalem far enough away yet close enough for the religious leaders to keep their “eye” on Him. Isaiah predicted this choice:
“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles — the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:1-2)
First century Israel was under Roman rule and the reigning procurator was Pontius Pilate. During the public ministry of Jesus, from inauguration to conclusion, the Roman Emperor was Tiberius Caesar (14 A.D. – 37 A.D.). The Jewish people hated being under Roman rule and from time to time attempted violent insurrections. Couple with this some measure of belief in a coming Messiah, one who would deliver them from Roman oppression and over-taxation, and you had a recipe for both acceptance of Jesus and rejection of Jesus. Gradually, within the Year of Inauguration four groups of religious leaders are mentioned and characterized as antagonists ~ the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, the Pharisees, and the elders of the people.
The First Passover
Next stop was Jerusalem for the Passover. This would be the first of four trips up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Unleavened Bread – each year of Jesus’ public ministry. One swift and impinging act marked both His first visit to the Holy City and His last visit, five days before His betrayal, ~ the cleansing of the Temple.
“In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, ‘Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!’ His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ Then the Jews demanded of him, ‘What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’ “ (John 2:14-19)
Evidently, while He was in Jerusalem Jesus granted many miraculous signs causing many people to believe in His Name. Notwithstanding, the growing crowds were not to be trusted; Jesus was not moved by this instant popularity ~ He was wary of the fickle side of human nature. Enter onto the scene a member of the Jewish ruling council, Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night apparently cautious of watching eyes. We can all be thankful for this clandestine visit of this Jerusalem Pharisee. That night the iconic dialogue regarding the “new birth” was spoken.
“I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:3-8)
In rapid succession, Jesus, ever the iconoclast, continued speaking some of the most-often quoted verses from the Bible ~ all in the context of His conversation with Nicodemus. Reading further along in John chapter three we learn the defintion of spiritual blindness, secret things, light vs. darkness, the extent of God’s love, and prediction of sufferings for this teacher from Nazareth.
Waning Ministry
A short circuit in the Judean countryside followed where He spent time with His disciples and they baptized some new converts at Aenon. John was also in the area near Salim finishing up his season of baptizing. At this moment John issues his last recorded statement about his life and ministry. His arrest, imprisonment, and beheading were imminent. John the Baptist epitomized the practice of “deferring to another.” Take note of his last words ~ they should be the watchword for every ministering servant of the Lord:
“The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:29-30)
Jesus spent the remainder of the first year of ministry ~ calculated to be about four months ~ in the province of Galilee. He restricted His outreach to the northern area, around the Sea of Gennesaret or the Sea of Gallilee. As we all know, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and He spent His childhood and young adulthood in Nazareth which is referred to as His “hometown.” However, once he launched His ministry of proclamation, He chose a city on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee as his base of operations ~ His headquarters ~ the place He would come back to refresh after going throughout the hillsides and villages.
Jesus extended the Kingdom of Heaven to earth ~ setting it up in people’s hearts. He taught that the Kingdom of God would restore, surpass, and fulfill God’s original created order with a new and much higher order. During the Year of Inauguration Jesus accomplished His initial purpose of preaching the message of this Kingdom demonstrating His Divine authority through miracles and signs. Organically, news spread about Him. His audience grew but He spoke no parables to them ~ not yet…
“From Adulation to Betrayal ~ Timeline of 35 Parables” Introduction
Introduction
Why did Jesus speak to the people in parables? You may be surprised at His answer ~ I was. The answer may not be what you have thought it to be and it may not be what you have been told before. It is true that a commonly held definition of Biblical parables has been: “An earthly story having a heavenly meaning.” But the idea that Jesus used earthly metaphors to enable His listeners to understand what He was getting at ~ well, that is not what He said! The twelve disciples asked the same “why?” question and we can read about it in Matthew’s account of the life of Jesus. Let’s go to Matthew chapter 13 which, by the way, contains the record of seven parables and begins with The Parable of the Sower.
Verse ten reads, “The disciples came to Him and asked, ‘Why do you speak to the people in parables?’” Jesus responds to their puzzled minds by quoting from Isaiah 6:9 & 10. You can read this dialogue also in Mark 4:11 and in Luke 8:9. Here is Mark’s account:
“The secret of the Kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ “.
I ask myself, were the parables a type of “audience filter” employed by our Lord? The backdrop for this exchange was while Jesus was sitting in a boat teaching from the boat because the crowds were so large that they filled the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. We will learn as we go along in this study that the crowds followed Him for different reasons and not all motives were noble. Jesus addresses this fact minutes later when he delivers The Parable of the Weeds. But I will save that for a later chapter.
Finally, in making this point, let us look at Matthew 13:34 & 35:
“Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.’ ”
Jesus’ use of parables fulfilled the ancient prophetic prediction of Asaph drawn from Psalm 78:2.
Timeline Sections
The public ministry of Jesus spanned a period of approximately 3 1/2 years. From Adulation to Betrayal ~ Timeline of 35 Parables is divided into five sections corresponding to five distinct time portions of His public ministry and I have listed the number of prominent parables declared by Jesus during each division:
1) First Year ~ Inauguration – no parables
2) Second Year ~ Popularity – twelve parables
3) Third Year ~ Opposition – four parables
4) The Final Months ~ Unfolding Strategy - eleven parables
5) The Final week ~ Omega Point - eight parables
Luke’s account of the life of Jesus records the largest number of parables ~ twenty-one in all. Matthew records sixteen and Mark selects only four. John’s Gospel account includes only two ~ The Parable of the Good Shepherd and The Parable of the True Vine. A handful of the parables are recorded in two or more of the Gospel accounts.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John had their own ethnic, educational, geographical, and vocational backgrounds. Matthew and John were among the twelve disciples and eye witnesses of the life of Jesus. Each writer had a particular target audience they writing to. Each was captivated by a perception of the Teacher that influenced their writings. Those impressions were articulated through their choice of words and descriptions of events. Each found “their voice.” Rather than disturbing my trust in the inerrancy of the scriptures, these four distinctive, but unified, approaches fascinate me. As I study personal background details about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John I grasp more of their intentions in disseminating the Savior’s message.
Generally, a “brief and amazing” chapter has been dedicated to each of the thirty-five parables. There are two exceptions: 1) the volley of four single-verse parables declared in Matthew 13:31-45; 2) the trilogy of “the lost…” parables in Luke 15:8-32. In my opinion, each parable has a primary theme, and many have a secondary theme also. As the writer, I employ and enjoy author’s privilege in determining what these emphases are. As the reader, you may be nudged to take me to task about one or more of my editorial choices. In those instances, of course, I would love to hear your point of view.
You may want to discuss some others points as well, such as, why I have chosen to quote from the New International Version of the scriptures, why there are no footnotes except two, what my criteria was in designating one passage as a parable and another as “not”, and my decision to include accurate details of the betrayal, arrest, kangaroo court scenes, and killing of Jesus. Some facts may prove to be incinerating. I have thought long and hard about just how to treat this aspect of the final months and days of Jesus’ life. Contact me if you have a problem with it.
For those who are new to reading references to scripture verses, which I pray are many, here is the code:
Matthew 24:12-14 reads as follows ~ Matthew chapter twenty-four verses twelve through fourteen
How did I describe myself in my Preface? A “counter”? Sounds like I am not the only one among us. Take a look at this excerpt from Matthew chapter 16. The setting was this: Jesus and the Twelve disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee and whoever was in charge of bringing the food for the outing “forgot to take bread.” Jesus made a comment, a discussion arose among them, and then Jesus responded with this question and summary statement regarding two recent miraculous “food events”:
“Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls (of leftovers) you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?” Matthew 16:9-10 (italics mine)
Do you, my reader, remember? The answers are “twelve basketfuls” and “seven basketfuls”.
Now, shall we move forward to experience “From Adulation to Betrayal ~ Timeline of 35 Parables?” If so, may you be enriched by the Master’s wisdom and instruction!
“From Adulation to Betrayal ~ Timeline of 35 Parables” Preface
January 21, 2010
Preface
I suppose you could say that my research for “From Adulation to Betrayal ~ Timeline of 35 Parables” began because I am a “counter.” I count the number of Canadian Geese in V-shaped formation as I walk along the Hudson River near our home in upstate New York. I count the petals on the corolla of a flower and not just those of clovers. Often I will count or estimate the number of people in an audience or those included in a social outing. Minutes ago I counted seven deer in the snow-glazed meadow adjoining our property. Am I an obsessive counter? Absolutely not! I draw the line at counting the stars although I admire them almost every night throughout each season as I stand on our back deck. I let the Astronomers frustrate their brains and do the estimated counting.
In the fall of 1995 as I was studying the recorded life of Jesus Christ my curiosity was stirred by the frequency of His parable usage. So, I began counting. I was familiar with the often-cited parables, such as The Sower and the Seed, The Prodigal Son, and perhaps the most well-known, The Good Samaritan. However, I was fascinated by the extent that Jesus utilized this ancient cultural form of communication. In fact, two-thirds of His teaching was presented to His listeners through either figures of speech, similitudes, or clearly designated parables.
The first question that begs to be asked is, “Why did Jesus make the decision to reach His listeners through parables?” Certainly, as the master orator an entire range of techniques were at His command. Second, “What was the first parable and to whom did He address it?” Third, “When did He begin using parables…from the start of His public ministry, in the middle, or toward the end?” As I have been led along through my research the answers to these and many other pertinent queries were uncovered somewhat like opening a treasure chest filled with indescribable riches. I have found layer upon layer of insights into The Master’s wisdom, strategy, and His passion.
Why write about the parables? And why now? I can answer both of those questions from a personal point of view. In the summer of 2009 as I was preparing teachings for my second trip to India and Nagaland, I sought the Lord’s inspiration. My speaking schedule included sessions with Youth With A Mission Discipleship Training School students (YWAM DTS) in Bangalore, India and Nagaland Bible College students in Mokokchung, Nagaland. The Spirit of the Lord spoke clearly to me and said, “Teach on the Parables.” Without hesitation I unearthed my research from 1995 and got ready to teach.
In both settings I received numerous comments regarding the teaching. However, without any dispute, the most frequent comment was that, “I have never heard anything like this before.” Every teacher likes to think that he or she is teaching something new and worthy to be learned by his or her students. I am no different. You see, the Holy Spirit led me to present the timeless themes of the parables of Jesus in chronological order and with the corresponding backdrop of audience, location, and plotting on the timeline graph of His public ministry. Learning these aspects was powerful for me as well! I felt as if I were traveling with my listeners back in time to Galilee and Judea, to the “Lake”, Capernaum, and Jerusalem ~ feeling the emotions of excitement as the crowds swelled, perplexity among the disciples when they did not understand His actions, and the growing sense of danger as the religious leaders closed in on killing the prophet from Nazareth.
After my third and last session teaching at the Nagaland Bible College, an extraordinary thing happened. One of the teaching staff, a pastor’s wife named Ester, came to me with some measure of trepidation, I must say, and asked me, “Have you ever thought about writing your teaching as a book?” Within two minutes, the Academic Dean of the College, Sir Imcha Jamir, quietly confided to me, “I have never heard anything like this. Have you thought about putting your teaching in book form?” Immediately, Sentila, the college administrator, and her husband, Moa, who both knew I was working on a personal memoir chimed in, “Yes, we think this would be good as a training book for Bible College students.” When I asked Sentila & Moa which writing project should I work on first, they looked at me, I looked at them, and we joyfully chorused together, “The book on the parables!” And so it was spoken …confirmed by the mouth of two and three witnesses.
What do I hope to communicate to you as I write about His parables? I hope to transport you back in time and enable you sense the atmosphere in the land of Israel two thousand years ago. I hope to convey His immeasurable compassion for the multitudes that followed Him. And, to make you feel the roller-coaster of emotions that His disciples faced. I believe knowing our Savior Jesus Christ is a lifelong endeavor. Primarily, we get to know Him in two ways ~ by His Spirit abiding in us and by absorbing His Word. The parables are the majority of His Word spoken to real people in real settings then and now.
It does not matter what your culture or your gender or your age is. His parables are for every culture, both genders, and every age group ~ whether you are male or female, whether you are six, sixteen, twenty-six, or sixty-six! I pray that you will experience a deepening awe of Jesus Christ and His unprecedented wisdom presented in the timing of His Parables. The truths embedded in “From Adulation to Betrayal ~ Timeline of 35 Parables” explain the principles of the Kingdom of God ~ tangible, eternal principles that promise and deliver freedom to the human soul and spirit regardless of nationality, age, or culture.
I will leave you, the reader, with one last question, “What was the last parable which Jesus spoke and what were the last three words of that parable?” Would you say that the answers are significant?
Sarah Anne Smith